


Dark affection

by boleyn13



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Dark, Dark Loki (Marvel), Gen, Last chapter is fucked up, Loki is a great boyfriend, M/M, Magic, Never mess with Loki's boyfriend, Protectiveness, Romance, Spying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-22 16:18:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11971059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boleyn13/pseuds/boleyn13
Summary: "Do you really believe that, Tony? That a guy who carelessly murdered thousands of people is capable of genuinely caring about somebody? Of feeling love?”“There are a lot of different kinds of love, Cap. Not all of them are sweet and bring out the best in people. Some of them are toxic, dark and twisted.”SHIELD learns about Loki being in contact with a Midgardian. A possible accomplice? Terrorist? Fellow evil sorcerer? They have to go after him to cover a potential risk. Only to learn that Loki can be incredibly protective and he doesn't care about collateral damage





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everybody,
> 
> This is a two-part fic about my new favourite trope "Loki has a boyfriend that noboby knows about and when they find out, it means trouble."
> 
> First chapter has a lighter tone, second one will be more serious. Hopefully chapter 2 will be up within the next week. 
> 
> Have fun :D

“So what’s so damn important that I have to come in personally? Never heard of a sweet thing called ‘video conference’?” Tony came in last, he had his big entrance like every other time, clearly annoyed.

Steve felt the same way, but for different reasons. “Now that we’re all here – can you tell us what this is all about? We’ve sitting here for two hours.”

“Yeah, because Stark couldn’t bother to shown up on time.” Clint remarked which only earned him a shark grin from Tony. “Some people have to run a billion dollar company while others just sit around.”

“Pepper runs your company.” Natasha replied drily and Steve sighed softly. “Everybody had other things to do today, nobody was expecting a call. I now want to know what this is all about. Director, please?”

Fortunately there was no more bickering and Fury finally spoke up. His expression a little more grim than usual. Steve inwardly prepared himself for the worst. “This is Daniel ‘Danny’ Graham Reynolds. Our agents stumbled over him during an observation.”

Fury pressed a bottom on his remote and the face of a young man was projected on the wall in front of them. Not a mugshot. Could be the photo of a driver’s licence. The first thing that came to Steve’s mind was that he looked blatantly normal. Sadly bad guys weren’t wearing some universal uniform. Those lithe blue eyes and dark brown curls didn’t look very threatening or intimidating.

“Terrorism?”

“No, worse.” Fury pointed out and pressed another button. An image that showed Reynolds walking down the street in the company of a blonde man. “A couple of months ago we asked Thor to give us a detail description of aliases that Loki liked to use back in Asgard. We sat him down with our best artists to get a facial composite. Then we ran all of them through our facial recognition software and hooked it up to every camera we have control over. To be honest, we didn’t expect great results. Looking for a needle in a haystack. Then suddenly we had a hit.”

Damn, Steve knew where this is going. “So you are saying the blonde guy in the picture is Loki?”

“Positive. Thor.” Fury made a prompting gesture and Thor leaned a bit forward in his chair. He looked uncomfortable, like every single time they were talking about his little brother. Steve felt for him, it couldn’t be easy. “I recognize that face. Loki used it many times before.”

“How sure can you be? There must be a lot of blonde guys with similar features in the world.” Bruce had a point, but Thor shook his head. “He’s absolutely identical. Height, built. Director Fury was able to show me a video. Even the way he moves is right. This man is Loki.”

Calm but perfectly convinced. Steve believed him.

Tony who was typing on his phone with one hand and spinning around with his chair like a little child decided to join in on the conversation. Although he didn’t bother to look up. “Alright, so Loki is walking around New York City. What’s up with Reynolds? They’re in the same gym class?”

“We have no idea how they met, but there is a clear pattern.” New pictures. Loki and Reynolds walking next to each other. Loki and Reynolds sitting on a park bench. Them having coffee. “Photos were taken three months and two months ago. The second we found out Reynolds’ name we put him under constant observation.”

Nobody seemed especially surprised. “Any indication that Reynolds knows who he is dealing with? Or why they are hanging out together? I doubt that Loki is keen on making friends.”

Right, Steve would definitely agree with that. Instead of answering Fury showed them a new picture and Steve’s breath got caught. He felt his cheeks getting warm which was so immature, Steve could only hope that nobody would notice.

A photo of Loki, still as a blonde guy and Reynolds in front of a coffee shop, locked in a kiss that didn’t look like making friends.

The first comment was Tony’s appreciative whistling. “Loki is a busy guy…”

“That doesn’t answer my question if he knows it’s Loki or not.” Judging by Natasha’s tone, she was neither taken aback, nor surprised. Probably she just didn’t care. Their only focus should be on how they might be able to use this to get to Loki.

“No, agent Romanoff, we have no idea what Reynolds knows or what he doesn’t know. All we do know is that Loki is regularly meeting this man and may even be in a sexual relationship with him. Whatever is going on there, we have to know about it.”

“Okay, so who is this guy anyway?” Clint cut in. “What does he do?”

“He is a paediatric cardiologist.”

“What the hell? Look at that guy, how old is he? 26?”

“He is 34 years old. Child prodigy. Went to Harvard medical school. Graduated first of his class.” Fury read a list of facts and Steve thought that he now had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

Unlike the rest of them Thor looked utterly confused. “I don’t understand. He is doing what?”

“He is a doctor that takes care of kids with a heart illness.”

Now leaning back in his chair Thor nodded in understanding, looking somewhat impressed. Steve shared that feeling a little bit. What did a man who dedicated his life to saving children… what did that kind of man have to do with Loki? Well, they were kissing, obviously.

“Loki has to be getting something out of this. A doctor? Doesn’t make too much sense.”

“Oh, I can tell you what he’s getting out of it. Guy is kind of cute.”

“Tony, please… A doctor. He’s got access to a hospital. Maybe that is somehow useful to Loki?”

“Hardly. Loki’s a shapeshifter, he can get into any place if he wants to.”

Clint didn’t react to Thor’s statement too positively. “Any place? Sorry, Thor, I remember things quite differently.”

“At the moment it doesn’t matter what Loki can’t or can do. This is the first time we might have a lead towards him. I want somebody on Reynolds’ tail 24/7. He can’t notice. Loki definitely cannot notice. I want his apartment bugged. His work place. His emails, texts, calls, social media. Everything.”

Tony snorted. “Well, that sounds very constitutional.”

“Stark, we are dealing with somebody who is in touch with a terrorist. We are not taking this lightly.”

“Alright, so you want me to bug the place, right? Should have known. Fine. You’ll get the finest gadgets I can come up with, but if he notices and sues the hell out of us… I’ll let you take the blame. I’ll even pay his lawyer.”

Steve shot Tony a dark look who only answered with a disinterested shrug.

 ***

Normally this would be the kind of job Clint and Natasha would do together. That simply wasn’t possible now. Too much of a risk of being seen or recognized. While Natasha was keeping a watchful eye on Reynold’s workplace, Clint and another agent were going to break into Reynolds’ apartment. A bit of a waste of Clint’s abilities, but Fury still refused to let anybody else do this. Too afraid that somebody might screw up.

The whole affair would probably take less than ten minutes.

Getting into the apartment complex had been a piece of cake. Now they were in front of Reynolds’ door and Clint was already on his knees to get the door open. This was a fine neighbourhood, a fucking expensive apartment, definitely nothing Clint would ever be able to afford. So it was a bit surprising that the door wasn’t secured with a high-tech lock that could only be opened with a code or your freaking phone.

Nope, an ordinary lock and you actually still needed a key for. At least it made things easier and more interesting for Clint. He didn’t mind old-fashioned. Getting out his pick-lock gear and set to work. This was going to be over in… oh… that was unexpected. Was he moving in the wrong direction or…?

Clint readjusted and started over, only to run in another dead end.

“Something wrong?” The agent asked over his shoulder and Clint wanted to snap at him, because this definitely didn’t help his concentration. “Yeah, just need a couple more seconds.”

This was supposed to be easy. Clint had done it thousands of times before and now he was running into a complete dead-end. The lock wouldn’t give and Clint couldn’t even tell why. The structure didn’t feel different or unknown, Clint knew what to do, his hands were perfectly calm and yet…

“Seriously, how long is this going to take?” came the impatience snarl from right next to him and Clint wanted to punch him in the face. “Fine, you have a try!”

Sure, it was childish and stupid, but they had about fifteen cameras with them that needed to be installed and they couldn’t afford to deliberately lose time. The other agent set to work and Clint noticed with grim satisfaction that he didn’t get far either. Eventually they were both standing in front of a locked door, looked at each other and being completely at loss.

“So what are we doing now?”

 ***

“I am sorry. What? Can you repeat that? That was so stupid, I can’t believe it.” Tony knew that he was being a jerk about this, but seriously – if you were that stupid, you deserved to be mocked mercilessly.

Clint was gritting his teeth so hard that Tony was able to hear it. What a nasty sound. “We couldn’t get into his apartment.”

Yeah, still stupid. Tony couldn’t let it go. “Still don’t get it. What?”

“Stark, stop being an asshole!”

“How can you not get into his apartment?! Aren’t you supposed to be a spy!? Breaking and entering should be a piece of cake.”

Now Clint was merely sizzling, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Fury had to jump in. “This is not funny, Stark. Two of our most experienced agents haven’t been able to open the lock, although it appeared to be perfectly normal.”

“Smells like incompetence.”

“Oh, shut up!”

“Or Loki’s magic is at play. There is another strong evidence that points to magic. We haven’t been capable of hacking Reynolds’ phone.”

Now Tony’s mouth was dropping open. Sure, he had known that SHIELD was as useful as a blind panda on an ice floe. Nevertheless this was a new level of stupid. “Are you kidding me? Now you can’t even hack a phone? What are you actually wasting the tax payer’s money on when you aren’t doing your work?”

Clint looked ready to jump at him and tear his throat out. Totally worth it. Fury was bit more calm, which was disappointing. “How about you wait another second before mocking our entire organisation? Until then you could try to do it yourself.”

Sure, they didn’t get anything done and Tony had to do the dirty work. “Fine, give me five minutes.”

Pulling out his own phone Tony had a short conversation with Jarvis. “Got it? I need to be able to listen to every in-coming and out-going phone call. Be sure to record every single second. Great, thank you, buddy.”

Tony was mid-turning around, the shit eating grin perfectly in place, he only had to choose from several answers, all lying ready on his tongue, when…

“I am sorry, sir, but I am constantly getting locked out. I am not able to access the phone.”

Clint was laughing out loud and Tony’s smile vanished. “Not funny, buddy. Come on.”

“Sir, I am trying my best, but all my attempts seem to be in vain. I am unable to tell you why.”

Behind him Clint was laughing even louder and now Tony was doing his best not to snarl. “I fucking hate magic. New plan… How about we get into his apartment when he’s still there?”

“You are a crazy person.”

 ***

As it turned out nobody could trace Reynolds’ phone calls, but thanks to some excessive research they were able to find out that Reynolds had bought a painting at an art gallery. So all of their resources combined weren’t capable of cracking a single phone, but they easily got into the entire database of an established art gallery.

They only ended up looking there, because the observation team had seen him enter the gallery. Anyway, now they had the means to get into the apartment.

Natasha spent an entire morning in make-up until even Clint didn’t recognize her anymore. It should be easy enough.

Two other agents were carrying the painting while Natasha rang the doorbell. They had an appointment, no room for coincidence. Natasha could hear steps from behind the door. Two seconds later it was being opened and Natasha was face to face with Daniel Reynolds.

Jeans, black sweatshirt, barefoot. The attire looked casual, but Natasha needed only a quick glance to figure out that they cost a fortune. His appearance was friendly and handsome. Natasha had learned a long time ago that this didn’t mean anything. Even she could turn herself into a friendly appearance if she wanted to.

“Dr. Reynolds, pleasure to meet you. I am Melanie Cross from the Rosenthal gallery. I am here to oversee the delivery of the painting you purchased.” Natasha offered him her hand in greeting and Reynolds smiled at her. “That’s great. You’re perfectly on time.”

His hand was warm, firm and Natasha searched in his eyes for malice or pretence. She couldn’t find anything.

“Please, come in.” Reynolds pushed the door further open and Natasha stepped inside. Now she was the one who couldn’t pretend a little bit of excitement. At first glance there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Perhaps she had expected a black hole, but that wasn’t the case. The apartment resembled Reynolds’ style of clothing. Casual but exquisite. Natasha’s eyes darted around to find anything incriminating. So far everything was perfectly normal. When the door fell shut behind them Natasha took a look at the lock. Also perfectly normal.

“Where would you like that we put it? Have you already chosen a spot?”

“Yes, right over here.” Reynold pointed at the wall opposite of him and Natasha took advantage of the opportunity to walk around the room. “Excellent. It’s such a beautiful piece. You have made a marvellous choice.”

Natasha rested her hip against the sofa and the first bug was planted instantly. Good.

“Thank you, I was in love with I first saw it. Please, be careful with it.”

“A proof of excellent taste.” Natasha looked around, pretending to check out the other artwork. “I will fit most wonderful in your collection.”

“You’re too kind.”

No magical artefacts, at least as far as Natasha could tell. No visible weapons. Everything seemed rather ordinary. As soon as the painting was on the wall Natasha handed Reynolds the paperwork. A few signatures, a handshake, a camera on the painting and they were out of the apartment again.

“Romanoff, mission has been a complete success.”

 ***

“This was a fucking disaster.”

Steve was pinching the bridge of his nose and meditation really seemed like a good option now. The constant headache was nagging and he wanted to sleep. “Tony, please, could you stop using this word?”

“No, this word is absolutely appropriate and necessary, because this is not a regular disaster. It’s a fucking disaster of epic measures! The only good thing is that nobody but us knows about it or our reputations would be ruined forever.” Tony was pacing around the room and Steve couldn’t remember that he had ever seen him like this.

“Stark, you’re the tech guy. Any explanation to how this is possible?”

“It’s Loki, he’s fucking with us.” Tony shrugged, but Steve could see that he would like to kick something or someone.

“I kind of expected a little bit more from a certified genius.” Fury was just as grim as Tony and Steve knew that he had to be the one to keep a cool head. “I am sure we’ll be able to figure all of this out, if we go over it step by step. Throwing up our hands and whining won’t help anybody. Natasha, what happened?”

The third person with a very grim expression on her face. What a happy bunch they were. “As we went in everything was completely normal. I only learned that the camera in my belt wasn’t working when we had left. I placed two bugs and two cameras. Not a single one of them was transmitting a signal, although they were working perfectly when we tested them.”

“Naturally, they were made by Stark Industries. All of my stuff works perfectly.”

Tony’s interruption evoked a grunt from Clint. “Well, except for when they are supposed to work.”

That earned him the most condescending grin in the history of mankind while Natasha continued. “When I arrived at the headquarters I noticed that something was wrong with my gear.”

Very matter-of-fact Natasha put one of her knives on the table, then a gun. Everybody leaned forward to see what was wrong with it. Always the most impatient Tony simply grabbed the knife and… Oh.

“What the fuck.”

Normally Steve would have voiced a complain about that expression, but he was too distracted by how Tony was able to bend the blade with two fingers. Like rubber.

“Seriously, Nick? Any budget cuts that you forgot to tell us about?”

“Tony, that’s not funny.”

“Look at it! It’s a freaking toy knife! For kid’s to play with!”

Sighing Steve looked at Natasha. “The gun?”

“Rubber bullets. Nobody could have replaced them. Same with the gun. The only explanation is that metal was somehow turned into rubber.” Natasha replied, sounding incredibly detached and Steve wasn’t sure if he could trust that. Was she just trying to appear calm and collected? She had been in this apartment, only to find out later that she had had no means to defend herself. Sure, Natasha knew how to take care of herself even without a weapon.

For a second Steve imagined his shield turning into rubber and his stomach clenched, so Steve quickly put that thought away.

Eventually it was Bruce in his usual calm manner that summarised these unfortunate events. “So Reynolds is in constant contact with Loki. The door to his apartment can’t be picked. At least not without force. Cameras and microphones don’t work inside the apartment and weapons… cease to work. Loki clearly wants to keep something safe… and he still feel confident enough to let people into the apartment…”

Bruce was right, the evidence was overwhelming and they needed to finally do something about it. Finally, for the first time they were ahead of Loki and they couldn’t afford to lose that advantage. “We have to figure out what Loki needs Reynolds’ place for and role Reynolds plays in this.”

“Agreed. We need an unknown agent to infiltrate Reynolds’ private life. Find out if he even is aware who he is dealing with. Screwing this up is not an option since at the moment we don’t know if we’re dealing with an innocent person or a terrorist… or even worse.”

“The most important thing is to find out what is in that apartment. The one room I saw looked fairly ordinary, but given all the defence mechanisms there must be something Loki wants to protect. Maybe it’s his place where he goes to relax, sleep, regenerate. If we find a way to outsmart the defences, we might be able to get him at his most vulnerable.”

“Right, first we have to…”

“Uhm, guys…” Bruce was clearing his throat and he looked around in confusion. “Aren’t we ignoring the obvious?”

“What?”

“Reynolds?” Bruce’s voice went up as if he was voicing a question. “We have pictures of them kissing… Wouldn’t it make sense that Reynolds is the thing that Loki is trying to protect? It’s his apartment and if he is Loki’s boyfriend… It looks like it’s not a hide-out or the hiding spot for some weapon. I think it’s just the flat of a person he cares about.”

For a couple of seconds there was nothing but awkward silence and Steve couldn’t believe that it wasn’t Tony but Fury who broke it. “Doctor Banner, I hope you are having me on.”

“No, actually, I’m being serious.”

“Loki caring about someone? Come on, Bruce, you know better than that. Loki is killer, he doesn’t give a fuck about anything or anybody.” Clint snorted and Steve was tempted to agree, but he didn’t want to dismiss a different idea so fast. “Thor, what do you think?”

“I… have no idea. I find it hard to believe that my brother could feel fondness for a Midgardian. He thinks they are beneath him…” Thor clearly sounded ashamed and Steve wanted to reach out and touch his shoulder, tell him that they knew he wasn’t thinking like that.

“There you have it. The guy is probably mind-controlled or has no idea who Loki is. The bastard is using the doctor for something…” Leaning back in his chair Clint mumbled to himself, every syllable dripping with hatred for Loki.

“Wait a second…” Tony had evidently calmed down, now slowly walking up and down the room. “It’s possible we’re discarding that idea too quickly…”

Natasha raised an eyebrow at him. “Really, Stark? You are a supporter of the ‘Loki has actual feelings’ theory? Clint is right, he is a cold-blooded killer. Playing another role and we have to find out what he is planning.”

Tony made an impatient gesture. “Yeah, yeah… listen, I’ve met a lot of scumbags in my time. I was raised by scumbags. People who don’t care if they have to kill other people to make a quick buck. Scumbags and yet every now and then… one of them had a wife or a family member that they generally liked.”

Nagging on his lower lip Steve let the words sink in, while watching the others’ faces. Nobody but Bruce seemed to agree with Tony. Not even Thor. “Do you really believe that, Tony? That a guy who carelessly murdered thousands of people is capable of genuinely caring about somebody? Of feeling love?”

“There are a lot of different kinds of love, Cap. Not all of them are sweet and bring out the best in people. Some of them are toxic, dark and twisted.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody,
> 
> It's in the middle of the night, but here's a new chapter for you ;)
> 
> It got longer than expected, so there will be one more chapter, the one where things get serious and dark...
> 
> Have fun :D

The observation team was transmitting footage 24/7. Most of the time it was beyond boring since they were only watching a building. Still no luck with infiltrating Reynolds’ apartment. They followed him in the morning to the hospital. Then the agents were staring at the hospital for about eight hours, then Reynolds was maybe doing his grocery shopping, going for a drink with co-workers, heading straight home or heading back out for a run. Absolutely ordinary.

Or maybe not. It couldn’t be a coincidence that the observation team hit the alarm button when every single Avenger was at the SHIELD headquarters for a meeting. Fury stopped talking mid-sentence and took a look at his cell phone. “Seems like Reynolds is meeting up with Loki right now.”

Five seconds later were watching the live stream of Reynolds and Loki, as the blonde guy, sitting at a table on the terrace of a restaurant.

“You know, Fury? The entire thing would be definitely more informative if he had actual sound.” Tony was complaining, but he had point.

“We’re already sending in an agent, Stark. Since we can’t tap his phone or read his private messages we can only follow him around. We had no idea he was heading to his restaurant until he sat down.”

“This is so embarrassing…”

Steve wasn’t listening, he was busy watching the interactions between Loki and Reynolds. Until now it seems fairly normal, sitting next to each other and talking. They didn’t have to wait long though. After telling the waiter their order Reynolds was entwining the fingers of his left hand with Loki’s and they continued their conversation.

Behind him Steve could hear Clint huff. “PDA? I am not buying it. He is playing a game. But I gotta admit I have no idea what he is trying to do here.”

“He is trying to get laid…” Tony was muttering beneath his breath and Natasha shook her head. “Strange place to hook up with a one-night-stand. We have pictures of them which are over two months old. He is playing a long game here.”

“I have to agree. My brother is an expert at playing different characters. He has seduced people before to get what he was seeking after. Although these people usually were powerful sorcerer or kings… queens. Loki could be after an artefact or gold.” Thor mumbled softly, Steve couldn’t fight the feeling that this entire situation was incredibly uncomfortable for Thor. Watching his brother deceiving people, feigning affection when…

The idea came in a sudden flash and Steve could be completely wrong, but Thor’s words had inspired him. “Guys, maybe we’ve looking at this all wrong.”

“That’s what I’ve said before.” Bruce pointed out quietly and without snark, causing Steve to shake his head. “No, that’s not what I meant. Thor just said it himself. Loki has been doing this before… What if it wasn’t him who put up all the defence spells in Reynolds’ apartment?”

It was surprising that it was Tony who frowned and who didn’t seem to understand. “What do you mean?”

Natasha didn’t seem to have problems to follow Steve’s train of thought. “You think that there is more to Reynolds than that meets the eye.”

“It’s a possibility. It would explain why we can’t get into the apartment and Loki’s interest. What do we know about Reynolds? Other than that he is a doctor? Perhaps there is more to him?”

“Like what? You believe that he’s also a sorcerer? Or that he is an alien?” Tony clearly thought that the idea was ludicrous and Steve tried to defend it. “Look, I have no idea. Maybe he just has something that Loki wants. Like the tesseract. Perhaps he is trying to get into the apartment just like we are. Do we have any proof that he has been there?”

“We don’t have any video feed of him entering the apartment. But you know… there is the whole teleportation thing, so that doesn’t mean much.”

Granted, that was a good reason why they hadn’t seen Loki near the building. “We need to find out more about him.”

They kept watching the video until Loki and Reynolds had finished their lunch and left the restaurant. Holding hands. It was the most alienating thing that Steve had ever witnessed. Well, almost. Loki escorted Reynolds back to the hospital and kissed him goodbye. As soon as Reynolds was gone Loki continued to walk down the street and Steve turned to Fury. “Director, we need a decision. He’s alone and we know where he is.”

Fury instantly negated. “No. The agents will follow him at a distance. I’m not going to take any risks. We have a better way to get to him now.”

The video continued, Loki walked around a corner and when the agent did too, Loki was gone.

“Great, I’ve watched Loki having a date. Now I can cross that off the bucket list.” Tony mumbled and Natasha got up to her feet. “We have to do some digging. Find out if there’s anything fishy about Reynolds. Besides dating Loki.”

 ***

SHIELD didn’t learn from their own mistakes and sent an agent with a fake kid to the hospital. With cameras and microphones. None which worked. Bruce commented that the protection spells were obviously on Reynolds and not just his apartment. For him a proof that Loki was trying to take care of him. Clint was of the opinion that it could also mean that Reynolds was capable of taking care of himself. To him it was impossible that Loki could care about anyone.

Tony wasn’t sure what to think about all of this. Perhaps Loki was just happy to get laid regularly. To be honest, Tony didn’t care. He’d love to throw Loki into a cell and let him rot there, just for throwing him out of the window. Then there was all that ‘taking over the world’ stuff. The last couple of months had been very quiet, maybe because Loki was actually busy having fun. Looking at it from this angle Reynolds was maybe the best thing that could have happened.

Except maybe… if Reynolds didn’t know who he was dealing with. Did that count as rape? Damn, Tony was looking too much Law & Order SVU. Sometimes he thought it might be easier to forget about this whole thing. They were poking at a hornets’ nest here.

“Okay, somebody’s got to say it. We got nothing. Reynolds’ past is perfectly normal. We were finally able to look into his college and school files. He was born in New York, he pays his taxes, he seems to have a normal social life. A couple of agents picked apart his trash. He loves the garlic chicken from the Chinese restaurant next door. He’s perfectly normal.”

“Except for the fact that he is dating a murderous alien who probably still wants to enslave mankind.” Clint rolled his eyes.

“There is still no way of knowing… if he is aware of Loki’s real identity.”

“Yeah, about that. Isn’t it about time we figure this out?”

“And how? Hey, sorry to annoy you. Your boyfriend doesn’t happen to be an alien? There’s still the possibility that Reynolds isn’t one of the good guys either and that Loki is after him. Can we risk alerting him?”

This was Tony’s cue. Slowly, deliberately, he wasn’t going to fuck that up. “Uhm, how about we maybe leave the cute doctor alone?”

And everybody was looking at him, staring at him as if he was crazy. Even Bruce seemed a little bit confused. Of course it had to be Steve to raise an eyebrow at him. “Excuse me? What did you just say?”

Sighing deeply Tony spread his arms and then shrugged. “Look, the last couple of weeks have been pretty calm, haven’t they? Loki hasn’t been on his worst behaviour… Perhaps that has to do with him being busy with Reynolds. Him getting laid might be actually good for us.”

More huffs, sighs and exasperated looks. Natasha seemed to be especially glad to explain to him how wrong he was. “That’s a nice theory, Tony, but too dangerous for us to consider.”

“How so?”

“There is still a strong chance that Loki is trying to keep something hidden in this apartment. Or Reynolds is associated with him, they may be partners in crime.”

“Or Reynolds just might be his boyfriend…” Bruce mumbled and Tony sent him a grateful glance.

Once again Clint gritted his teeth and Tony was so tired of that sound. “Then he’s still guilty of not reporting a terrorist and he is a traitor to the entire human race.”

Now that wasn’t dramatic at all and Tony was getting so sick of their weekly meetings when they discussed that they didn’t know anything. “Okay, guys, either we finally do something about this ‘Reynolds’ situation’ or we’re going to let it go. Because it’s getting as annoying as embarrassing.”

“As much as I hate to admit it… Stark is right. Get somebody to talk to Reynolds.”

 ***

They finally got to him in a bar. Reynolds went there after work, alone. Steve wasn’t sure, but on the video his shoulders looked a little tensed. That could mean pretty much anything.

The agents tailing Reynolds had already remarked in their reports that he liked to frequent that bar, usually though with co-workers or friends. Tonight he was alone and they instantly jumped at the opportunity.

None of them could go in, way too dangerous. Looking back Steve thought that it had been madness to send in Natasha. So much could have gone wrong, Reynolds was close to Loki, he might have recognized her.

Now it was different. Steve had never worked with the agent that they had sent in, but Clint, Natasha and Fury vouched for Agent Meyers. That didn’t stop Steve from feeling ridiculously nervous. He wasn’t good at sitting in front of a TV screen and waiting for things to happen while doing nothing. Tony joked about getting popcorn.

Two other agents were also at the bar, providing them with live footage. Reynolds had only been there for 15 minutes and he was already almost finished with his second drink. The distance and the angle didn’t make it quite clear, but to Steve it looked like Reynolds was drinking something very strong. Like scotch. Slumped shoulders. Bad day?

Meyers used that exact same thought to kick of the conversation when he sat down next to Reynolds. Steve inwardly thanked god when the microphones were working. They would have to find out why though. This was suddenly very convenient.

“The next one is on me.”

Reynolds turned his head, they couldn’t really make out his expression. It was the first time Steve heard his voice. Pleasant, but not particularly happy. “The next one?”

“Well… I’ve actually wanted to buy you the second one, but you were a little too quick. So it’s gotta be the third one. You look like you need it.”

Next to Steve Tony snorted and was being ignored. Reynolds was equally unimpressed. “Charming.”

“Sorry, if I’m being out of line, but… you see a pretty guy walking in, think about that you might want to buy him a drink and then you see him jug two glasses in a row… Rough day? I can get lost if you want me to, but that drink is definitely on me.” Meyers gave the bartender a sign and a new glass was placed right in front of Reynolds.

Not the worst strategy, he might be more inclined to talk while being intoxicated.

The room collectively sighed in relief when Reynolds’ fingers curled around the glass. So he wasn’t just going to get up and leave. “Thanks.”

“My pleasure.”

Reynolds nodded and took a sip from his drink before uttering a sigh. It was so deep that the microphone captured it easily. “I normally don’t accept free drinks and that’s all this is. A free drink.”

“Did I give you the impression that it’s anything else?”

“You called me the ‘pretty guy’.”

“Okay, yeah. You are attractive and you’ve obviously had a bad day. It’s just a drink, alright. Boyfriend or work?”

There was a slight hesitation and Steve was getting nervous that Reynolds might back out. This was rather personal anyway.

“Work… listen, I don’t know you. I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about my sorrows with a stranger.”

“I get that. Just in case – I am a good listener and sometimes it’s a lot easier to talk to somebody who doesn’t know all the details… or the context.”

Tony chuckled. “Yeah, I can get behind that.”

“Shut up, we can’t miss anything.”

Reynolds remained silent for a couple of minutes and when Steve was convinced that this conversation was over, he spoke up again. “I am a doctor. A little girl that has been in my care for several years died today. So yeah, rough day.”

Steve’s heart sank when he heard that. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Reynolds was an actual person with a life, a doctor. Who was grieving over a little girl. Probably a good guy. So how could he be involved with Loki?

“I am very sorry. That’s a very good reason to drink.”

“Guess so.” Reynolds mumbled and drank the rest of his drink. Then he indicated the bartender to get him two more. “Next round is on me.”

“Thanks.” They clinked their glasses and Meyers finally introduced himself with a very fake name. “I’m Stuart, by the way.”

“Danny. Nice to meet you.”

It continued from there. Steve was legitimately impressed by how easily Meyers connected to Reynolds. They were getting along, although Reynolds wasn’t that talkative after all. Yet he didn’t seem in a hurry to get away.

“So what’s your deal? It’s Thursday. You’re in a bar and listening to the worries of a guy who’s taken and clearly not in the best mood. You’re punishing yourself?”

Finally, that was a great opportunity to start talking about Loki. Steve leaned a bit forward in his chair and he could see some of the others doing the same.

Meyers shrugged. “My day wasn’t the best either. Doesn’t compare to yours, but I didn’t feel like immediately going home. Maybe I also felt like talking since there is nobody home waiting. What are you doing here if you could talk to your boyfriend?”

Everybody in the conference room was holding their breath. In a mere second Steve went over all the possibilities. Would Reynolds be alerted? Would he get up or leave? After hearing the conversation until now Steve highly doubted that Reynolds could be another sorcerer, so an immediate attack wasn’t likely. Would he get defensive or would the conversation continue normally, because Reynolds had no idea who he was dealing with?

“He is… on a trip right now. Can’t reach him.” There was no need to be an expert in voice analysis to know that Reynolds wasn’t particularly pleased about his boyfriend’s absence. Fury was already on his phone. “I need the exact date of Loki’s last sighting.”

Meyers reacted believable with a little laugh. “What? So far away that even phones can’t reach him?”

Reynolds for the first time showed a reaction that wasn’t quiet and somewhat melancholic. Instead he sounded irritated and perhaps the slightest big angry when he uttered a dry laugh. “Pretty far away… one could even say another dimension… Phones don’t tend to work there.”

The whole room tensed and Steve span around to look at Natasha. “You heard the exact same thing, right?”

Her only answer was a nod before Meyers jumped at the opportunity. “Sorry? Other dimension?”

Reynolds shook his head and made a dismissive gesture. A bit sudden and very quickly. “Nothing just a stupid comparison… Listen, thank you for the drink. I gotta go now. I have another shift tomorrow morning. Bye.”

He fled, there was no other way to describe it. After putting a few dollar notes on the counter Reynolds got up to his feet and rushed out of the bar. Silence lingered in the conference room a few seconds longer. Then Clint exploded. “The son of a bitch knows! He knows it’s Loki!”

Tony, still casually sitting in his chair, raised his hand. “Technically, he didn’t say anything that…”

“Oh, come on. Another dimension. That’s not exactly a figure of speech. He messed up and that’s why he ran. Director?” Clint looked at Fury, obviously very eager to do something about Reynolds.

“If that’s true he has no way of contacting Loki right now. It’s a perfect opportunity and that window might close very soon.” Natasha’s voice was calm, but Steve could see it in her eyes that she was going through the same emotions as Clint. Steve understood. That little comment had also been enough to convince Steve. Now they had to quickly decide what to do about it.

“He obviously knows something. A lot more about Loki’s plans that we know… and he didn’t alert the authorities or reported him in any kind of way… We need to decide what to do fast.”

“I vote for doing nothing at all. This won’t end well for us. Boyfriend. That’s what he said. Do you really want to…”

Tony was harshly interrupted by Fury. “After two years that’s our first and best chance we get. I am not going to let it pass. Go, get him before he’s back in that apartment where we can’t get into.”

Nodding Steve stood up, determined to not make a mistake. This was important.

 ***

They caught up with Reynolds two blocks away from his apartment. He was on his phone, walking down the street when he spotted Steve in front of him. Whatever he was saying, the words died on his lips and he stared at Steve for a couple of seconds before he turned around. That didn’t help him much. Tony was right behind him and another look around him told Reynolds that there was no way to go. Not when four Avengers were forming a circle around you. Bruce and Thor had decided to stay behind.

“Mr. Reynolds…”

The expression on Reynolds’ face gave Steve the confirmation he had been searching for. Anybody else would have been surprised. Or would have at least asked what was going on. Not Reynolds. Steve could see the acceptance of what was happening settling on his face. As if he was resigning himself to what was happening. Slowly Reynolds lowered his right hand that was holding his phone. “You should not be doing this.”

“Mr. Reynolds, we have to ask you to come with us.”

In response Reynolds closed his eyes and ever so slightly shook his head. Not in a way that would indicate that he wasn’t going to comply. To Steve it seemed like he was looking for a way to express his frustration. “This won’t end well for any of us. Do yourself a favour and forget about me.”

Steve wasn’t sure what to respond, this was unexpected. An answer wasn’t necessary though, Clint was faster and clearly eager to get his hands on Reynolds. Inwardly Steve winced as Clint brutally grabbed Reynolds and slammed him against the wall of the building right next to them. The phone slid across the ground and Reynolds grunted in surprise and pain.

“Cap said ‘ask you’ but you don’t really have a choice. Give me your damn hands!” While pressing his elbow against Reynolds’ spine Clint yanked his arms behind his back and cuffed his wrists together. The anger in his motions couldn’t be missed and Steve was about to comment on the unnecessary harshness, but Tony beat him to it. By using violence himself. With a shove he got Clint off Reynolds and hissed at him. “Cut it out! He’s not a crook to push around and you’re not a cop.” Putting a hand on Reynolds’ shoulder Tony pulled him away, ignoring Clint’s glare. “You’re alright?”

Reynolds nodded, shifting lightly, clearly feeling uncomfortable with his hands behind his back. “I am okay, but he won’t be.”

Even in the armour Tony flinched, Steve could see it.

“Come on, let’s go. Fury is waiting.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody,
> 
> I am so sorry, I am terrible at planing ahead... there will be 4 chapters. FOUR, that's it, I promise ;)
> 
> Have fun :D

Tony’s heart was racing and it just wouldn’t stop. Not like a panic attack, but nevertheless incredible unpleasant. It had started the second they had picked Reynolds up and now it wouldn’t stop. Even though he was out of the armour and not even in the same room as Loki’s boytoy. There was something about him that was freaking Tony out. Technically there was nothing scary or frightening about him. Young, pretty, lean, but not muscular enough to be a fighter. Physically he was no threat and yet he made Tony nervous.

Pretty face was too calm. Not in a psychotic ‘I don’t care what’s going to happen to me and I’ll kill you anyway’ kind of way. No, the expression on his face was perfectly normal. Not angry or scared. Seriously, any other person would freak out if the Avengers suddenly ganged up on him and one of them had already more or less attacked him. What the hell had Clint been thinking? Sure, Tony got that his entire backstory with Loki had left a chip on his shoulder and those were some completely justified anger issues. Nevertheless it wasn’t smart to smack Reynolds around. There were protection spells all over his apartment, damn it.

And Reynolds was calm. Not provoking or teasing them, playing it cool. No, he was compliant, not overly polite. To Tony he looked like a guy who knew that he was in for a very unpleasant experience, but who was also sure that nothing could happen to him. As if somebody had warned him that this might happen. Of course Loki had warned him.

Now Reynolds was here, still handcuffed and chained to the metal table. Like a high profile criminal. An ordinary citizen, hell even a criminal, would have started yelling by now. Demanding a lawyer, claiming that he had rights or threatening to sue their sorry asses. None of that. No, Reynolds was merely sitting there. Waiting.

Thor had been staring at him through the two-way mirror for solid ten minutes now. As if he had never seen another person before. Tony felt a bit sorry for him. The big guy was probably thinking about how this guy was having a closer relationship to his brother than Thor himself. “Hey… you’re feeling alright, pointbreak?”

“Yes… I just only now realise that he is real. That there is another person that Loki is in contact with… and I wonder what he sees in him. For the last couple of years… I’ve only ever seen him spitting poison in the face of anyone who dared to approach him.”

“Listen, you’ve said before… that you don’t believe that Loki wouldn’t care about a human… you’re really sure about that?”

Thor turned to look at him and it took all of Tony’s willpower to not lower his eyes. That sad expression was almost too much to take. “The Loki I have grown up with… he may have… the man who came to your world as a conqueror? I don’t see him caring about anyone.”

“Well, I can tell you that this guy definitely doesn’t care about me “ Natasha made her presence known by speaking up and loudly closing the door behind her.

Steve was rubbing a hand over his face and Tony could tell that was feeling agitated because of Reynolds’ presence. Well, that made two of them. “So, he is not talking?”

“Not to me. I sat down opposite of him and then he just looked at me or his hands. Didn’t matter what I said, he didn’t take a single bait. I think it’s personal.” Natasha crossed her arms in front of her chest and it didn’t sound like she cared, but that was the way she always sounded.

“Perhaps he recognized you. You were in his apartment after all.” Steve muttered and Tony shot Bruce a look and the other man reacted by shaking his head. Sure, they were ignoring the possibility that Loki might have shared some experiences. Like – if the red-haired bitch tries to talk to you, keep your mouth shut and don’t say anything.

“Then somebody else has to go in.”

“Gladly.” Clint took a step forward and Tony wasn’t going to keep his mouth shut. “That’s a tremendously bad idea.”

“Aha and why’s that?” Clint was raising his chin a little bit, already looking for a confrontation. “Because you’re way too eager to beat him up.”

“Do you want to talk to him? You don’t have the experience and you want to coddle him.”

“Oh please…”

“End of discussion. We need information from him and we need it fast. May I remind you that we’re not dealing with an innocent person here. Reynolds is perfectly aware who he is dealing with. He’s still too relaxed. I want him to know what kind of situation he is in.” Fury said drily and Tony could see that he was as furious at Reynolds at Clint.

“Ever thought that maybe he is so calm, because he knows that Loki is going to fuck shit up when he finds out about all of this…”

“When we have the information we need, Loki won’t have the opportunity to go crazy. Barton, move.”

Tony wasn’t going to argue anymore, instead he said a silent prayer. He had an immensely bad feeling about this. Everybody turned to the mirror again and Tony knew that they were in for a treat. A horrible, disgusting treat.

“Mr. Reynolds.”

Looking up Reynolds met Clint’s eyes and he was immediately more talkative than with Natasha. “You should not be here.”

“Why? You’d prefer someone else.” Clint sat down opposite of Reynolds who was shaking his head. “You hurt me.”

“You weren’t moving fast enough. That counts as resisting arrest.”

“That won’t matter.” Reynolds sighed softly.

“Okay, I’ll take the bait. Why won’t it matter?” Clint already seemed annoyed and Reynolds raised an eyebrow as if he didn’t quite believe what was going on. “Because he will be mad.”

“What else is new?” Tony thought that Clint would actually start to yawn, but instead he decided to start the interrogation. “All personal feeling aside, you know that you’re in deep trouble, right?”

Still not impressed Reynolds cocked an eyebrow. “Why is that?”

“You’ve been in constant contact with a terrorist and you have failed to report that you know about his whereabouts. That makes you an accomplice. We’re looking at some serious prison time here. Probably 20 to life. Not one of the nice prisons. And if you ever got out, you would never be able to work as a doctor again.”

None of that hit home. “So why am I not in prison?”

“Oh, you’ll go there, but we might still be capable of avoiding the worst if you were willing to cooperate. It’s not like you have much of a chance.”

“And what would that entail?”

“Where is Loki?”

The doctor let out a short and somewhat real laugh. Normal people who were threatened with a lifetime in prison reacted differently. “I don’t know. If I knew, I would keep my mouth shut. Hell, it wouldn’t matter, I could tell you and you still wouldn’t be able to go there.”

“Because he is in another dimension? Fancy. Does he leave you alone a lot?”

“We’re not living together and he isn’t obligated to inform me about everything he is doing. Neither am I.”

“Yeah, the difference is while you are in the hospital, saving little kids, he goes around killing people. Either you have terrible taste in men or you are in on everything. Listen, you don’t have a lot of options. Let’s keep it simple. Your life ended when you decided to get involved with a mass murderer. You can help us or it’s prison for life. Might be your salvation anyway, because Loki will dispose of you sooner or later. When he got what he wanted and that means he’ll probably kill you. That’s what he does. So why don't you do yourself a favour and tell us where he is.”

“Listen, agent Barton, I get what you are trying to do here.” Reynolds shifted in his chair and only now Tony realised how tight the cuffs around his wrists were. He could barely move. “Use me to get what you want and I know you probably even believe that the things you said. That doesn’t make them true though. I am not going to prison. I am going to continue working as a doctor and you are going to let me go.”

Tony could hear his own teeth clenching. Every red flag in the world. They should get him out of here. They should have never brought him here in the first place. Like everybody else Tony doubted that Loki had this caring part of him, one that could feel affection. It didn’t matter anyway, because Reynolds was certain. Every word that left his mouth was a perfect truth and he wasn’t talking like a person with crazy determination. More like somebody who was elaborating on how the sun was going to rise tomorrow. A fact. Nothing worth thinking about.

What the hell could make somebody so sure that they were untouchable? Reynolds was going to walk out of here and water was wet.

“Because your knight in shining armour is going to waltz in and get you out?” Clint snorted and for once he seemed more amused than angry. To him Reynolds was insane. Not to be taken seriously. “Newsflash, buddy, this is not a fairy tale and Loki is not a prince. He is a sociopathic killer and he doesn’t care about anything else than himself. I know, I’ve met him.”

For a second Tony thought that he could see Reynolds rolling his eyes. “I don’t like fairy tales. I hate romantic comedies or romance movies in general. I hate hyperboles and cheesiness. Don’t you get sick of these phrases? Love means never having to say you’re sorry. Bullshit. I think I’d miss you even if we never met. Makes me want to throw up. The worst one… I would do anything for you. Anything. Such an overused word. Tell me, do you believe that anyone has an idea what that means? I’d do anything for you… Huh. That’s quite a lot. Giving up all your money. Betray a friend. Tell your mother she is a lying whore and that you hate her. Give up religion. Move to a communist country. Torture somebody. Kill somebody. It’s all included in that little word. Anything. You give somebody a complete blank check. So incredibly stupid. If you want to find out what another person would do for you… ask them to do it. I know that Loki would for me.”

Tony’s heart was skipping a beat and he thought about ending this conversation by just bursting into the room. Reynolds wasn’t raising his voice, his intonation didn’t change, he had no intention whatsoever to intimidate his listeners. He was explaining a mathematical problem.

It was obvious though that Clint didn’t understand that. “What?”

“You heard me.”

Floating in the air. Unsaid and Tony shook his head, turning to Steve who was standing right next to him. “We need to get him out before…”

The interrogation continued and Clint’s posture had completely changed. Rigid, hard, his jaw so taunt, it was barely moving when he spoke. “You asked Loki to commit a murder for you?”

Could he just deny it and they would all go home?

Reynolds shrugged. “Not necessarily for me…”

“You will have to go into details on that.”

For the first time Reynolds wasn’t directly looking at Clint, but past him. If he had to guess, Tony wouldn’t put his money on him being ashamed. “I am a doctor. I see a lot of things. I might not work in trauma or emergency, but… There was this little girl. Every time I saw her the bruises and injuries got worse. She was so clearly afraid of her father. Child protective services couldn’t do anything, because he was pretty high up in the hierarchy. It got worse over months and her father actually had the nerve to drive her to the hospital to get her fixed after he lashed out on her. My colleague who treated her couldn’t stop talking about how he wished that this guy would be run over… That night I got home, I was watching TV, Loki was right next to me on the couch, reading a book. He hates the TV. I was watching Law and Order… reminded me of what is going on. I turned to him and said ‘Guy I’ve seen at the hospital today needs to be gutted like in this show’. Loki put his book down, looked at me and asked ‘Do you want that to happen?’ I replied that he deserved to die and Loki continued reading his book while saying ‘I’ll take care of it’. I could have stopped him right there, but I didn’t. Because it’d be better for everybody if that piece of shit would just go away. Two days later I heard that the dirtbag had jumped of a skyscraper. Or had been dropped from a skyscraper. Loki couldn’t care less. For him that was as much effort or stress as snipping his fingers. He didn’t really do it for me… rather because of me. Because I asked. A minor inconvenience. I am pretty sure he has all forgotten about it by now. Nevertheless that’s something he’d do. Now imagine what he’s willing to do if he thought it necessary. Or if he was angry. This is going to make him very angry. So everybody would benefit from it if you let me go. Instantly.”

Tony could hear everybody’s breathing but that was it. The tiny little idea that Reynolds had no idea what was going on just went out the window. Still Tony didn’t think that he was trying to threaten them. Which was all the more scary.

Sure, picking off one scumbag wasn’t a big deal for Loki, but it showed that both of them weren’t fucking around.

“Steve, we have to get him out of here. He’s not going to help us laying out a trap for Loki. All we’re doing here is to seriously piss Loki off!”

The look on Steve’s face showed that he was feeling something similar. One second later Tony wanted to kick himself, because there was no way Steve could overlook Reynolds asking Loki to kill somebody. Captain America didn’t have it in him to let something like that go. “Even if we let him go, Tony… he’d tell Loki. Would it make any difference then?”

Probably not, yeah. They were fucked.

In the meantime Clint had changed his interrogation tactic. What for? How was he supposed to intimidate a person who had a god in their corner? Then again, Clint was so eaten up by his hatred for Loki, he probably didn’t care. Or realise. “Do you really think that you are that important to him? A man who kills without blinking an eyelid? Who thinks that killing a man is a minor inconvenience? Your words.”

Reynolds exhaled softly. “You wouldn’t understand even if I had all the time in the world to explain it to you…”

“Oh, so the others don’t understand… Sure. Heard that one before. From criminals and rapists. Or abuse victims.”

Reynolds started to frown and may god have mercy on their souls if Clint had finally managed to piss him off. “Of course… you have to look at it from this angle…”

“Fine, then explain it to me. I am all ears and you should portray yourself in a better light after you’ve just confessed to a murder.”

“I don’t owe you an explanation. It doesn’t matter what I tell you, because you have to let me go anyway. I am not saying this because I am on a power trip, enabled by being in a relationship with a god. Loki isn’t my lapdog. I can’t tell him what to do. Personally I am not a threat do anyone… I am sure you could break my neck right now if you wanted to. You won’t though. In big picture I don’t matter. But I matter to someone and that someone… he doesn’t have to break your neck. He can set this whole building on fire just by looking at it. So you have to let me go. It’s better for everybody this way.”

Soft, he sounded almost friendly by the end and obviously that was too much for Clint to handle. He lost it.

“You matter? You think you matter to that sociopathic sun of a bitch? I’m going to show you something! Look! Look what matters to him!”

Tony groaned and ran his hands through his hair when Clint dumped a shitload of pictures on the table, right in front of Reynolds. “Half of Manhattan destroyed. A city in New Mexico. A SHIELD base. People don’t matter to him! We’re like insects to him. Ants. That’s what he called us! You think you are different? I have no idea what game he is playing with you, but I know for sure that you are an ant like the rest of us.”

Now Tony was only waiting Reynolds to spit into Clint’s face. He wanted to, Tony could tell by the way he twisted his face. It didn’t happen. Not because Reynold changed his mind or because he was feeling gracious.

The whole building was suddenly shaking. Two solid seconds during which the floor beneath Tony’s feet seemed to tilt and when everything was back to normal, they were plunged into dreadful silence. Right before every single warning bell in the building went off.

“Oh, fuck…”

While Reynolds was pulling on his cuffs, his eyes darted to the ceiling. “You better get these off me… Instantly. It will only be worse if he sees me like that. He will erase this place from the surface of the earth…”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody,
> 
> Fair warning - this is getting dark. The phrase "killing for love" is not romantic or cute, it's fucking dark and fucked up. We're going there.
> 
> Have fun nonetheless ;)
> 
> P.S. - This is Loki when he is actually motivated and not just fucking around (and I unlike Marvel remember that he has lots of different powers)

Steve’s body instantly went into danger-mode and span around to check out the security footage, only to find out that all cameras of the first floor had stopped working. His heart rate was speeding up and before he had the chance to say something, the walls began shaking again. The vibrations seemed to come from the higher levels.

Fury was frantically reaching for his radio. “This is Fury, what the hell is going on there?!”

There was no answer, just disturbing noise and Steve felt the blood pulsing in his ears.

“Loki is going on! So much about your great plan of using Reynolds to get to him. Fuck, I need to get into the suit.” Tony ran one hand over his face, his eyes flashing with anger.

“We need to stop him before he gets here. Tony, Natasha, you come with me. Thor, you and Clint stay with Reynolds.” Steve grabbed his shield, mentally already out of the door when Thor stepped forward. “I am not going to stay here when my brother is just outside this door.”

“Thor, I need you here if we’re not able to hold him back.”

More trembling and distant screams. Reynolds was tugging hard on his cuffs. “Let me go before he…”

“Shut up!” Clint hissed at him while getting to his feet and ripping open to the door that connected the two rooms. “Where is he?”

“You’re making a mistake…”

“Shut your mouth!”

“Everybody calm down!” Steve was yelling, but that was definitely necessary. “I am not losing any more time over this! Clint, Thor, you stay with him! Everybody else, let’s go!”

They were running. Every single agent in the base, including the Avengers. Men in heavy gear with machine guns in their hands, all rushing up the stairs which also started shaking for several seconds. Finally they all but flew into a room where about two dozen agents had formed a demi-circle in front of the door, pointing their weapons at it. Steve scanned most faces until he found one of the higher ranked agents. “What’s the situation?”

“He has advanced to the floor right above us. He’ll not get past us.”

The agent’s face betrayed his words. Steve could see the terror in his eyes. The sounds of flying bullets and screams were now even more present. All that separated them from Loki was one wall. Steve’s fingers curled tightly around his shield when the noise of death and destruction suddenly subsided. The silence that followed was dreadful. Uneven breathing. Steve could smell the fear surrounding him which was so out of place. The Avengers had faced Loki so many times, he had never even seriously hurt one of them. It was just him. No army. No magic staff.

Footsteps. Lithe and steady. Coming closer. Shaky breaths all around him. Steve met Tony’s eyes. Not his actual eyes, merely the helmet. Tony gave him a soft nod, his arms stretched out, the repulsors directed at the door. They’d get him the second he would enter the room, they weren’t going to let him take another step. Nobody was going to get hurt, not when…

The steps came to a halt, but the door wasn’t being opened. The door came flying across the room, ripped loose by some invisible force. Heavy, sturdy metal tossed aside like paper. Steve would never forget that sound. Bones giving in and breaking when the door crashed into several agents, burying them beneath it. When Steve’s head span around he caught a glimpse of a lean, tall figure standing in the door, but there wasn’t even enough time for a single shot to be fired. A wave of blunt, hard pressure picked Steve up and smashed him against the concrete wall. Searing pain went through the back of his neck and for three seconds everything went black. Blinking rapidly Steve fought against the threatening unconsciousness and went away as the winner. The rest of his senses were slowly catching up to him. Groans of pain. Whining. Everybody was on the ground, which meant that this attack hadn’t only been directed at Steve. Twisted limbs. Steve’s stomach was turning when he saw the broken bones sticking out. Blood stains on the wall.

Tony was on the other side of the room, struggling to his feet. Natasha wasn’t moving. Steve was being picked up again, this time by a hand of flesh and blood. Tight around his throat. Unforgiving. Steve started kicking with his feet when they lost touch with the ground. His own hands shot up to tear these fingers off him, but the grip was like steel and Steve for the first time in years felt weak, almost powerless.

Loki’s green eyes were drilling into Steve’s. There was none of the usual dark amusement or of the malice. No snarky, sarcastic comment, wasting time or playing around. None of that. Just a cold, disgusted stare. “Where is he?”

Steve tried to shake his head and in response Loki squeezed. All air was gone and Steve tried to strategize. His legs, had to kick him, get him off him.

“Stay on the ground or I will break your neck.”

Loki was still looking at Steve, despite talking to someone else. “Where is he?”

Steve swung both of his legs, thrust them hard against Loki rips and all he achieved was a flinch. At least Loki now decided to loosen his grip and Steve gasped for air. He also decided to throw Steve away like a piece of trash. This time Steve fell into complete darkness when his head connected with the wall.

 ***

Tony had Steve’s name on his lips when he saw him lying on the floor. Loki carelessly stepped over him. There were bodies all around him, Tony had no idea who might be dead or still alive. It looked like a bomb had gone off. Maybe exactly that had happened. There was nobody who understood better than Tony what it meant to want to protect somebody, but it didn’t give Loki the right to murder people.

Loki had already his back to him when Tony got on his feet and fired a blast at him. It hit Loki between the shoulder blades, he stumbled forward, but caught his balance. How was that possible? Tony had done this before, he had used less force to bring Loki to his knees. The god was turning around, his face a mask made of stone. Cold and unmoving. Green sparks were dancing around his hand and before Tony knew what was happening they all came together, formed a ball and Loki threw it.

When it hit Tony it was different than before. No pressure, no force. Instead there was heat. Unbearable. It was his suit. Burning up from the inside. Tony could feel his skin searing, burning up all over and in a rush of panic Tony somehow managed to give the right commands for Jarvis to let him out. Collapsing on the floor Tony felt himself being engulfed by fresh, cold hair which felt like heaven on his heated skin. Staring at his arms Tony could see that the skin was already glazing red, but no actual burns.

Getting up to his feet Tony looked around, finding out that Loki was gone. Rushing over to Steve Tony didn’t dare to touch him, except for pressing his fingers to neck. A faint pulse and Tony let out a choked sob of relief. Same thing with Natasha.

They were still down there with Reynolds. The doctor had been right, if Loki saw him in the cuffs… Tony started running, yelling, he was feeling dizzy and he was ready to fall over. There would be time for that later on. If he made it out of here alive. Tony wasn’t so sure.

 ***

Bruce was feeling cold when he finally tore his eyes away from the screen. Loki hadn’t even moved his hand. People were thrown around as if they were toys that a little kid had tossed aside. Not batting an eyelid. This was madness.

Next to him Fury started barking. “Okay, get him out of here.”

“What? Are you mad? What do you think Loki is going to do if he doesn’t find him here?”

Fury snapped at him and Bruce realised that he was completely helpless. The intimidating director of this secret, oh so powerful organisation had no idea what to do since the god they were constantly fighting had decided to stop playing around. Suddenly things were serious and now all of them were overwhelmed. What was an alien invasion against one super powered being that didn’t lack conviction this time?

“Right now he is the only thing standing between us and Loki! I am not taking the risk of handing him over, so Loki can feel comfortable taking down the entire building!”

Reynolds’ chain had been disconnected from the table, but he was still handcuffed, two agents on each side, grabbing his arms. Nonsense.

“Why don’t you get it? Let me go, I’ll go to him and we’ll leave. This will be over.”

“Shut up! You have no fucking right to talk! Your boyfriend is killing people left and right and you want to leave with him!” Clint was losing it, repugnance clearly audible in his voice, but Bruce wasn’t going to lose his time over this. “Fury, I swear to you… bringing him away would be utterly stupid and nothing makes me angrier than stupidity.”

The answer he got was a dry laugh. “Believe me, Doctor Banner, nothing would make me happier than seeing you angry.”

“Yeah, but I won’t be angry at Loki!”

“Be quiet!” Thor’s voice thundered across the room and when everybody turned to him he whispered “My brother’s here.”

Bruce didn’t hear anything that might have caused Thor to think that, but there was no time to ponder. The door swung open with a harsh sound and Bruce thought that they should consider themselves lucky had Loki hadn’t thrown it across the room like he had done before.

His heart was hammering in his chest and Bruce realised that he was feeling a special kind of fear that he hadn’t experienced in a long time. Normally that sensation was connected to the Hulk and to how little control Bruce had over him. Fear that he might hurt somebody. Destroy their lives and take them away. That wasn’t the case now.

Loki was walking into the room and despite the cold look on his face, Bruce couldn’t tear his eyes off Loki’s hands. Up to his elbows Loki’s skin and the sleeves of his armour were covered in blood. A long dagger in each hand, red drops were slowly trickling down onto the floor. Nothing about him would make anyone assume that he was here to save somebody. Loki rather looked like somebody you should be saved from. Bruce wondered how Reynolds saw him.

To Bruce he looked like something to be afraid of.

Nobody but Thor moved. “Brother, I…”

Loki stopped, his eyes not even taking notice of Thor, they were fixed on Reynolds who was still in between the two agents who definitely had the worst job in the world. The expression on Loki’s face didn’t change and Bruce wasn’t sure if he had expected something different. Still cold and iron. “Are you hurt?”

Reynolds quickly shook his head. “No, I’m okay…”

After nodding softly Loki tilted his head and very clearly took a look around. His green eyes ghosting over every single person in the room and Bruce was sure that more blood hadn’t been shed only because of Reynolds’ presence. Despite the failure of his first attempt Thor tried again to talk to his brother. “Loki, nobody has ever had the intention to hurt him. My Midgardian friends only desired to talk to your…” Thor paused, not knowing what to call Reynolds and Loki didn’t care anyway.

Loki was sizzling, slightly raising his right hand and Bruce thought he could see black nails beneath all that red. “You’ve shed his blood… now I am going to drain you of yours.”

That was all the warning they got. Loki’s arm came up a little higher and Clint wasn’t taking any risks. Bruce could hear Reynolds’ gasp as the arrow was fired and then his eyes couldn’t quite keep up with what was happening. Loki easily caught the arrow with his left hand and Bruce had no idea where the dagger had gone, he definitely hadn’t dropped it. The hammer was flying and before it could hit Loki the god simply vanished and Mjölnir was crashing into the wall. Loki reappeared, he threw his dagger and it pierced the throat of the agent standing to Reynolds’ right.

When the poor guy tried to draw a breath and choked on his own blood Bruce had to look away. It was the most awful and gut-wrenching sound that Bruce had ever heard. Loki made half a step forward and…

“DON’T MOVE!”

God, no. Desperation didn’t leave a man many choices. Except mad ones. The remaining agent had grabbed Reynolds and was now pressing a gun against his temple. For the first time Reynolds didn’t seem to be completely calm, but Bruce knew that Loki’s reaction was the one that mattered.

“You move a muscle and I blow his brains out!”

Loki didn’t move, but the cold was gone. His face was torn apart by immense and overwhelming rage. “Are you really that stupid?”

Bruce was tempted to agree with him, but there was no time to lose and nobody else seemed to try to stop things from escalating even further. If that was possible. “Okay… everybody calm down for a second.” How ironic that it was him saying that. “Nobody is going to hurt Daniel. Is that clear? All of us want to get out of here, so I say we just do that.”

Loki’s penetrating gaze was on him and it was the only one Bruce cared about. Although that might be a mistake. If the agent lost his nerves and ended up... they would all die here. “Daniel gets to leave. Right now. You take him with you and nothing is going to happen. Nobody is ever going to approach him another time. We’ll forget about this.”

Forget about the blood dripping off Loki’s hands and the corpse on the floor.

“That is not an option.” Loki spat and Bruce was already ready to give up. Those harsh sounds made clear that Loki didn’t just want to rip them apart, he felt that he had to.

“Brother, no more harm needs to be done.”

“Still your tongue, Thor or I am going to cut it out.”

“Loki…” That murmur felt out of place. Something soft and almost careful. They were looking at each other. Familiarity and perhaps Bruce was imagining it, because he wanted to see it, but there seemed to be something else in Loki’s eyes. Something soft. Something that had nothing to do with blood or pain. “Not all of them.” Was all that Reynolds mumbled quietly and Loki nodded in understanding.

“The two of you stop talking!”

Bruce flinched, his stomach dropping and clenching at the same time. The agent was losing it, knowing that he was with his back against the wall, with nowhere to go but straight ahead. Right into the arms of a man who could break bones with his bare hands and create fire with his thoughts. It was easy to see that his hand was shaking and the agent realised it too, so he readjusted, now pressing the gun against Reynolds’ lower jaw. “Okay, here is how it’s gonna go…”

“Adams, you are not…” Fury tried to interfere, but the agent, Adams, shook his head and hissed a madman. Or a desperate man. “No, I say what’s going to happen now! You are going to turn around and leave. When I am sure that you’re gone, I am going to let him go one hour later. Leave!”

Loki didn’t move a muscle, there were now two daggers in his hands. “Danny.”

Reynolds sounded choked up when he breathed an almost silent “Yes?”

“Close your eyes.”

“What? No! Leave or I’ll kill him!”

“Have you lost your mind?!” Bruce turned, like everybody else, to see Tony in the doorframe. Without a suit. Another madman. Screaming. “Put the gun down and let him go! Now, you idiot!”

“Shut up, you…”

Obviously Tony hadn’t captured everybody’s attention. One second Loki was there, one second later there was only an empty spot. When he reappeared, Bruce wished that he would have also closed his eyes. Then he wouldn’t have seen a throat being sliced and a hand being cut off. An atrocious deed done so smoothly that the sight would haunt Bruce for the rest of his life.

And yet the Hulk couldn’t come out, he would only make everything worse.

Reaching out Loki put his hand on the chain that held Reynolds’ cuff together. It was so easily ripped apart and Bruce hoped that this hadn’t been Vibranium. What happened next seemed so entirely out of place. A human being had just been brutally murdered. Just seconds ago the dead body had dropped to the floor, blood spilling everywhere. This was not the place for tenderness or even smiles.

Yet Reynolds smiled. It made him look pretty. He wrapped his arms around Loki’s shoulders, hugging him tightly. Loki’s hand was free of blood when it touched Reynolds’ hair. Almost surreal. Eventually Reynolds pulled back and Loki’s finger curled around his wrist. Bruce felt another wave of nausea when he realised that Reynolds’ skin had been rubbed raw by the cuffs.

“Who?” Loki pressed the word through gritted teeth and Reynolds made a little gesture with this head – in Clint’s direction.

“Brother, it’s enough!”

Loki didn’t think so and he moved so fast that Clint got to fire only one arrow at him that Loki batted carelessly away. “I am so tired of your stupidity.”

Although Bruce thought that he would see Clint die right here, Loki was content with crushing Clint’s wrists with his bare hands. The scream was too much for Bruce to bear. “Stop it! It’s enough!”

Fury was pointing a gun at Loki, at least he was smart enough to not point it anywhere near Reynolds. Loki’s eyes darted around the room and Bruce knew that he was considering killing all of them.

“Let’s go. They didn’t do anything…” Reynolds grabbed Loki’s hand, actually entwining their fingers. Then he nodded his head towards Tony and Bruce’s heart almost stopped. “He was nice…”

For another moment Loki looked like a wild animal, a fierce expression in his eyes, as if he couldn’t comprehend the concept of somebody being a good person. Reynolds hinted at a smile and then suddenly the madness and the rage melted away. Within a second all of them didn’t matter anymore. Loki pulled Reynolds close and they didn’t get a threat, not even a sarcastic remark. Nothing. They just disappeared. Gone.

There was suddenly air to breathe and Bruce was overwhelmed by sickness. The smell of blood was now so prominent that he couldn’t stop himself from throwing up. It was time to get out of here. As long as Bruce still had a grip on himself.

“Get the fucking medics… some of the guys aren’t dead yet…” Tony spat the words out, not trying to make it sound like he wasn’t blaming anybody in particular.

A couple of straining, draining hours later, with Clint, Natasha, Steve and an endless number of agents in hospital, even more in coffins, Bruce caught a soft murmur as he finally sat down next to Tony. Ugly blisters were decorating his hands. “I told them… dark and twisted… toxic.”


End file.
